Project MINE
by Stickler45
Summary: After a horrible plane crash, a man wakes to find that the world around him has changed- and so has he. With strange powers, no real objective other than survival and no clue who or where he is, he will fight for his survival.
1. Chapter 1

Have you ever seen a plane explode on TV? Have you ever been on a plane _exploding_? I have. I watched as the plane crumbled into pieces. I watched as people screamed and cried. I watched people die. In fact it's all I remember. All I remember before this started, before I became whatever the hell I am and before I made my home in _wherever_ the hell I am.

I woke up, battered and beaten with no breath in my lungs- and no clue who or where I was. I clenched my hands and pulled up fists of dirt. At first, I just lied there waiting to die. Yet, after only what seemed like minutes I felt at my prime. I felt in the best shape I had ever been, which was strange considering. In fact, the only thing that hurt was the back of my head. I stood and immediately noticed something was wrong. There was no wreckage, no bodies, and no signs of a crash at all. I was in a heavily forested area; surely there should have been some fire or smoke. I climbed a hill and scouted what I could of the land, picked a direction and just started walking.

It must have been at least two hours, before I started to give up hope. Maybe it was sadness or anger but whatever it was I swung at the closest thing to me, a tree. Suddenly, I heard an electronic pinging noise and a computer voice said, "Initializing: Strength Protocol." When my fist made contact with the tree I watched a huge chunk of it pop out, but my newfound strength wasn't the weirdest part. The rest of the tree just hung there, defying gravity. I walked underneath the suspended part of the tree looking up in bewilderment. How could it just _stay_ there? As I got closer to the piece I broke off, I heard another pinging noise. "Initializing: Storage Protocol."

I felt my back break and skin rip open as something burst out of it. The pain made me fall to my knees. I reached up in agony and clutched at my back. To my surprise I felt something, a small metal cylinder. The pain stopped and I opened my tightly shut eyes only to hear another ping, "Initializing: Inventory Management System." It felt like an electric surge running through my eyes. I closed them again and grasped the back of my head, almost instantly regretting it. I had brushed my hand against the wound that was hurting earlier and felt it, it was healed over but tender. That's when I noticed the lump underneath the skin. Something was in me, in my head. No doubt it was responsible for the strange changes in my body.

When I could open my eyes again, I saw the world differently. The first difference I noticed was the heads-up display I now had in my vision. No compass, just a bar with a picture of a cubed piece of wood. Then, it occurred to me. Everything was cubed, as square as it could be. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't just suffering a concussion, but it stayed the same. The wood-cube in my heads-up display was highlighted, and I heard another ping. "This. Is a block. The world around you is made of them. In order to survive, you must use these blocks. Use them to build: shelter, defense, or even tools. You have been asleep a long time [PLEASE SAY YOUR NAME]."

I thought for a bit, and mostly out of confusion I answered with a question, "Uhh, Steve?"  
The voice repeated my "name" with the same questioning tone, "Steve?, the world as you knew it has changed." _No shit, _I thought. "Steve?, please do not use profanity." _Holy shit it heard me? _"I can hear you perfectly fine, Steve?. Please stop swearing." _Well this is going to be fucking wonderful._ "I'll be monitoring your progress, Steve?." _Well, la-di-da. _"Steve?, it's almost nighttime. It is not recommended you stay out past then. Please, find or build a shelter." So what did I do? I did what any guy with a computer voice and the world's strangest fucking powers would do. I punched trees.


	2. Chapter 2

After a half an hour of collecting wood, I had learned that each "inventory slot" could hold up to 64 pieces of wood. The computer called a full slot a "stack". I had collected three "stacks" of wood when I noticed the sun was going down. _Ping! _"Hurry, Steve?. One hour to sundown." _You can keep track of time? What time is it? _"Access denied." _You mechanical asshole te- _"Please don't use profanity, Steve?." I punched another tree.

_Ping! _"Steve?, you have more than enough blocks to make a crafting table. This wooden table infused with similar technology to what you have inside of you, will help you make tools. Tools allow the harvesting of blocks to go much faster." _What technology?_ There was a short pause then, "Access denied. Would you like to make a crafting table?" _Sure, why the hell not? _"Initializing: Crafting Protocol." I braced myself for more pain, but heard only a small whir coming from my "backpack". After the whirring stopped, a new block appeared in my inventory.

_Ping! _"Steve?, the bar you see now is your hot-bar. The blocks in this bar are ready for immediate use by thinking about the slot you wish to access. This will pull the block in the slot out of hammerspace and place it in your hand." _Hammerspace? Wait- will it hurt? _"No, the pain you felt earlier was caused by the first initialization of the MINE system's protocols." _MINE system? _"Micro Inventory and Negative Encounters System, MINE." _Negative Encounters? _ "Access denied." _Fuckin' figures. _"Steve?, please don't use profanity." _Fuck off._

I looked to my right and saw a black-speckled stone part of the ground. _Ping! _"Steve?, that is coal. It is very efficient as a fuel source and also necessary to make torches. Torches will be your main light source. Light, during the evening, is a defense." _Defense from what? _"Access denied." I sighed and walked over to the coal. It took a couple minutes to break the first block and unlike when I was chopping wood; I broke a sweat. After I caught my breath, I realized there was nothing in my hot-bar. No blocks, lying where they should be. _Why didn't that work?_ _Ping! _"…Access denied."

I looked down and saw more of the speckled rocks. _Maybe, I should try the table._ The slot instantly lit up and I was suddenly holding the crafting table in my hand, I placed it on the ground. I approached it slowly and put my hands on the table. _Ping! _"Initializing: Advanced Crafting. Please, specify a tool." _Pickaxe? _ "Pickaxe recipe found, transmitting." Somehow, I just knew what to do. I knew exactly how to make the pickaxe and then I was holding it in my hands. I walked to the coal and started swinging. It was much faster to break the blocks and soon after two or three minutes of swinging I had a full stack of coal. _Ping! _"Steve?, you have enough wood to make a couple stacks of sticks. These are necessary for making torches. Would you like to craft them?" _Well, that would just be dandy tin person. _The whir from my backpack started up again and two stacks of sticks were in my hot-bar.

_Ping! _"Steve?, as I'm sure you can tell your Carrying Repository and Factory Tube, or CRFT, is capable of crafting small objects. This includes torches, which you have the materials to make. Should I initiate craft protocol again?" _Sure. _ It had already started to get dark and I figured I'd need them soon. As soon as the whir was over, I heard something else. Something was moving- behind me. I turned just in time to see the rotting face of another person.

What I could only assume was a zombie, staggered closer to me. I drew my fist back and punched the zombie bastard dead in the face. The result was not quite what you'd expect from a guy who chops trees with his bare hands, and shortly after collapsing the zombie was back on his feet. _Screw this_, I thought and quickly pulled out my pickaxe. I swung hard and sent the tip of the pick through the soft temple of my assailant's head. The zombie's movement stopped, and I ripped the pick out.

A stream of colored aura-like balls floated out of the limp body of the zombie and I absorbed them. _MINE?_ "Yes, Steve?" _What just flowed into me? _"- Unknown." _Right, um why didn't my punches work on the zombie the way they do on trees…and stones for that matter?_ "The strength protocol of your implants works by slightly boosting your actual physical strength. However, the most of the work is done by nanobots, released from your pores that cover the surface of a block upon your initial contact to it. The nanobots replicate and cover the entire area of a block in less than half a millisecond. Through an advanced and very fast process, the nanobots lower the density of the block making it easier for you to break."

_Ok, but that doesn't answer my question. _"The small nanobots only have the programming to lower the density of blocks. The fauna are not blocks." _Well why not just enhance my strength enough to break it? _"Here are our test results of our attempts at that." Images of exploded, broken, bruised and often times pulpy, arms flashed in my vision. A picture of a scientist pointing at the wound of one test subject was especially gory. After looking closer, I happened to notice something about the scientist; his lab coat said Devia Corp._  
_


	3. Chapter 3

MINE started to insist that I needed to build a shelter, so I cleared the area of trees until I thought there was enough room. _Do I need like- a hammer or something? _ "Select a block." I selected a stack of wood. _Now what?_ "Place the block on the ground, then, place another block on top of it." I set the block down, and stacked another on top of it. The separate blocks immediately became one long rectangular piece, fusing together. _Do I even want to know? _"Know what, Steve?" _Just, forget it. How am I going to make this place tall enough? _"Stand on top of what it is you are building." _That sounds insane. _"Trust me Steve?." _Fat chance. _Reluctantly, I set down another block in front of the pillar and climbed on top of it. _Ping! _"Anti-Falling Protocol activated." I felt something around my waist, and looked down. A blue stream of energy was wrapped around me and lead into the closest block to me.

_What is this? _"The anti-falling protocol sends a nanobot out to the center of the closest block whenever it is activated. This nanobot follows nearby and keeps you restrained from falling using an experimental energy lasso technology. The energy lasso can't take too much strain however, so you will need to move slowly and refrain from negative encounters for maximum safety." _You know MINE; it doesn't make me feel any better that the concentrated light beam firmly wrapped around my waist is experimental. _"All the technology you are using is experimental. The MINE and CRFT technologies are in a beta test stage." _Where IS everyone? Why do I have to do this? And more importantly who did this to me?_ MINE was silent, which I suppose I couldn't be too angry about seeing how I couldn't stand its voice. Then, the silence was broken and I found myself bringing the palm of my hand to my face: "Access- Denied."


	4. Chapter 4: A Change Of Perspective

Daniels had been working at Devia for way too long. Pretending to monitor the subjects of the MINE project wasn't tough work, just tedious. He was tired of watching these computer screens; none of the subjects would ever find anything out. There was too much anonymity for that, and MINE's protocols wouldn't allow it to divulge that type of information.

Often times, he'd find himself wishing he could wear the white lab coat of one of the smug scientists, they had a better job. _And a better fucking pay too, _he thought to himself. He chuckled at the thought of the swear word. He got a kick out of swearing in this environment. Mostly though, he got a kick out of watching the straight-edge scientists' assholes pucker up from hearing a well placed "fuck" or "bitch". He made it a point to slip curse words into every sentence.

_Ping! _The computer flashed red and Daniels looked up fast to see what the problem was. Subject 437's thought-scanners had picked up the use of a flagged word: Devia. "Shit," Daniels said as he started to panic. This had never happened before; he didn't know what to do. He turned towards the dusty intercom and reached out for the button. Pushing it down firmly, while his hands trembled he spoke shakily into the microphone. "P-possible security breach, Subject 437. I repeat possible security breach, Subject 4-3-7."

Daniels leaned back in his chair and waited. He wasn't sure what was supposed to happen or exactly when his computer was supposed to stop flashing. He stared at it blink when suddenly the door to his office burst open. "What the fuck man? At least fucking knock," he said before he turned around to see a man in a pinstripe suit smiling at him.

"Ah, I see you're quite the charmer aren't you, Mister-?" said the pinstriped man waiting for Daniels to give him his name. He was a tall lanky man, maybe in his thirties. He had a toothy-smile and a somewhat ditzy air to him, he certainly seemed friendly enough. His hair reminded Daniels of the main character on a science fiction show he found on the British channel, late at night_. Maybe it has something to do with his British accent_, thought Daniels. Pinstripe's smile started to fade as Daniels sat there, silent mulling him over.

Finally, Daniels cleared his throat and said, "Daniels. Daniels Adams."

The pinstripe man laughed a little before speaking again, "Daniels Adams? It's like you have two last names."

Daniels looked away hurt, then muttered, "Yeah, well- my mother was still loopy when she named me. When she was back in her right mind, she liked the story so much she decided to keep my name. Personally, I would've gone for a Doug or Dirk. I don't know why but I feel the letter "D" suits me."

"Quite. Speaking of names, mine is Richard. Richard Fontaine. I am the CEO of Devia Corporation and the head of the MINE project."

Daniels swallowed and forced words out, "Oh?" Or maybe just one word.

Richard nodded, smiled and extended his hand, which Daniels took. "Pleasure to meet you Mister Daniels Adams."

Stammering, Daniels said, "Y-you too."

"Now, now my boy. No need to be nervous. I just need to take a look at this potential threat I've heard so much about."

"Oh! Of course. Right over here at the fu- I mean at the computer. Subject 437. Our scans indicated he's been frequently thinking about a flagged word: Devia. I don't know how he learned it. Maybe, the amnesia protocol didn't work on him properly?"

"No, no. The amnesia protocol works fine. There must have been something we missed. Pull up his event log, I'd like to see any and all events."

Daniels clicked something and shortly was lost. How was he supposed to know where the hell he needed to go? He was told he just sat here and reported anything strange that happened. Finally, he right clicked "Subject 437", double-clicked event log and he was there. _Thank Christ this isn't a Mac, _he thought to himself.

Richard pulled out his reading glasses, squinted through them at the screen then pointed, "There. MINE accessed Devia files instead of using only its on-site information. How could it do that?" Richard chewed his thumbnail and seemed to be in deep thought, but it only lasted a second before he stood up. He reached out and put his arm on Daniels shoulder before saying, "Keep an eye on him. Speak through the intercom if anything weird happens at all. Also, good job Daniels. You and I will need to have a word soon about your future here at Devia." Richard turned and walked out of the room. Daniels unclenched his asshole.


End file.
